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Padua Franciscan tops Holy Name to win Fall Showcase September 8, 2008 By Jim Jicha A changing of the guard occurred for the second weekend in a row on Saturday, when Parma Padua Franciscan defeated senior laden Parma Heights Holy Name 25-18, 25-20 to win the Fall Showcase championship at Rocky River Magnificat High School. Cincinnati Seton and Magnificat had met in the previous four title matches, and Toledo St. Ursula won four straight times before that. Ironically, last week’s tourney shakeup occurred at the Best of Ohio hosted by St. Ursula. This was Holy Name’s first time in the championship match in nine tries - the Green Wave had finished third twice. It was the Lady Bruins' first appearance ever in the Showcase. Padua is loaded with talent but their standout on Saturday had to be 5’9” setter Meghan Cugliari. The offensive show she put on was, simply put, phenomenal. The Bruins did a lot of faking, with two or more hitters often in motion, and Cugliari mixed up and aimed her back sets, short sets, shoots and regular sets with choreographed precision. This resulted in many open net opportunities, especially on the corners, and spikes into empty places. Much credit also goes to the passing corps, especially Abby Kornowski and libero Lauren Goebel. Lady Bruin Coach Tony Messina said his team’s performance “was much better than Thursday night”, when they were upended by Lake Catholic. That loss put Padua in third place in the North Coast League, behind both Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin, and Holy Name which had beaten Lake Catholic earlier. Messina added “we did a great job on the outsides in that championship match”. The Lady Bruins took early charge of game one, and a kill by senior outside Jaklyn Veres that put them up 12-6. At that point, Holy Name 5’10” senior outside Rachel Switalski spiked a kill and Padua hit one long, but each time Veres responded with another kill to keep pace. Padua upped the margin to 17-8 as 6’0” junior outside hitting sensation Kaitlyn Leary spiked a kill, and 5’10” middle blocker Brittany Morris blocked a point. Defensive specialist Abby Kornowski contributed with a dive out of bounds that saved a partial block. Trailing 18-9 Holy Name scored three points, two on kills by 6’1” middle Shannon Stiles and 5’10”outside Laura Smykowski, but Leary terminated two on-the-money sets from Cugliari. Holy Name did narrow the gap to 20-15, but 5-11 Bruin sophomore Becky Jay ended intervened that with a kill. And despite Green Wave kills by Switalski, the score proceeded apace to 23-18, at which point Morris terminated a cross-court shoot, and Veres ended an intense volley and the game with a spike between defenders into an empty back middle. Morris began game two with a block and Padua jumped in front 4-0. But Holy Name scored three with Smykowski spiking a kill and setter Kayla Dentkos serving an ace. The Green Wave moved ahead 8-6 on a block of Veres by Stiles and two kills from Switalski. At that point Leary smoked an overpass, the first of eight kills she would record in game two. Morris served up six points, including an ace, as Padua took the lead for good. Leary pounded two cross-court blasts that were blocked into oblivion, and soon thereafter she added a kill and a block to spur a four-point run to 17-10. Senior Green Wave middle hitter and Central Michigan recruit Danielle Sheridan scored a block and ace and Stiles two kills as Holy Name cut the margin to 20-18. But Bruin frosh outside hitter Nicole Trapp countered with a kill and Leary followed with a termination. And after a point by Switalski, Leary pounded a blast that was dug high and rolled down Holy Name’s side of the net. Cugliari and Jay double blocked Padua to 24-19, and one volley later Leary ended it all when her left side spike was blocked out of bounds. Stat leaders for Padua were: Leary, 15 kills; Cugliari, 28 assists; Goebel, 8 digs and 13 serve receives; Morris, 9 service points. ****************************************************************************** Holy Name reached the final with an emotionally charged 25-27, 25-22, 25-21 win over host Magnificat. Having gone to Strongsville to see my five-year old granddaughter play soccer, I returned to find this match in progress with Magnificat up 19-16 in game two. The Green Wave promptly tied matters on kills by Switalski and outside Lisa Lanzo. A blast by 5’11” outside Brittney Balser put the Blue Streaks back on top, but Switalski reposted with a kill and, following a Blue Streak hitting error, Sheridan blocked to put the Green Wave up 22-20. Sophomore Blue Streak setter Elise Sako scored two dumps into holes in the middle, but Sheridan parried each with a kill to advance the score to 24-22. And after Smykowski and Stiles rejected one Magnificat spike, the Blue Streak’s obliged with a long hit that sent the match into overtime. Magnificat scored first in game three on a tip by 5’11” senior opposite Kara Stilphen, and two aces from junior outside Micaela Castele. Trailing 6-3, Holy Name rallied for five and the lead with Dentkos serving two aces. 5’11” junior outside Danielle McQuade scored for Magnificat and after two points by Holy Name, Castele drove two spikes on the left to start a four point run. A dump by Sako that was preceded by a diving save from libero Mary Lambert put Magnificat back on top at 11-10. Holy Name retook the lead 13-12 when Switalksi made a great one handed pop save and Sheridan followed with a kill. Magnificat retied at 13 and 14. But the Green Wave moved in front for good at 16-14 on a block by Stiles and increased their edge 18-15, 21-17 and 23-18. However, Magnificat was not through. Junior blocker Michelle Chakirelis spiked a short set kill and Castele scored two more kills down the left. The next volley was intense with the Blue Streaks desperately trying to narrow the margin to a point, but Sheridan came up a huge with a block, and she quickly encored that with a match ending booming block on the next volley. Padua defeated two-time defending Showcase champion Seton 27-25, 26-24 with a gutsy performance that belied the fact that they were stepping into new territory against one of the Division I Cincinnati stalwarts. It’s true that Seton doesn’t have the power offense of their 2005 state championship squad but their defense, led by amazing senior libero Danielle Beckenhaupt, has GGCL written all over it. Beckenhaupt's ability to dig everything in sight can frustrate the best offense. Against Padua she was all over the backcourt passing whatever smashes Leary and company sent her way. And when Padua tried to tip she was diving on the floor at the net for the save. Seton has other fine defenders like Emily Averbeck and Katelyn Kraft, and the Bruins found themselves in long, drawn out volleys. They also found in Seton an opponent that would not go quietly away. The Saints rallied twice in each set, from 12-5 and 24-21 in game one, and from 16-12 and 24-20 in game two. But the Bruins never lost their composure. Padua roared in front 6-1 and 12-5 behind the hitting of junior right side Christie Fritsche, Morris, Leary and Veres. But the Saints roared back as junior outside Noelle Schwarz spiked two kills, senior outside Katie Ritter served an ace, setter Andrea Gentile tipped an overpass and 5’11” senior middle Katie Bedel drove a spike right at a defender. Two aces by Averbeck knotted the score at 14. Padua scored twice, but Seton retied on a booming block by outside hitter Hanna Lietz, and after two more Padua points the Saints knotted it again on an ace by 6’2” sophomore middle Sarah Ritter. Three more ties ensued to 21 at which point Padua made a move. Fritsche started it with a cross-court shot that was dug way out, and Veres pounded two kills, one down the left and the other cross-court. But Sarah Ritter came up with two huge kills, the second ending a frenzied volley and, after Beckenhaupt dove to save an off-speed hit from Veres, Schwarz blocked in the middle to tie it up again. That set the stage for a long and intense volley featuring Padua’s fire power and the Saints’ defense. It finally ended when a Seton hit failed to clear the net, and the winning point came quickly on a hitting error. Game two was back and forth, and even more intense, with four lead changes and eleven ties to 12-12. Padua stayed a pace ahead much of the time. Following a Saints’ serving error, Leary blocked for a point and Morris served two aces as Padua bolted out to 16-12. But aces by Bedel and Kraft fueled a 5-1 Seton spurt that retied matters. The Bruins got a break when Seton was called for a net infraction. Libero Lauren Goebel made a great pass of a Seton spike that ended as a Veres kill, and Padua added two more to go ahead 21-17. Lietz scored for the Saints, but Veres spiked another kill and when Seton shanked a serve by Jay, Padua advanced to 23-18. And after Seton scored twice, Fritsche demolished a Cugliari backset to put the Bruins at match point. But again Seton rallied, as Ritter tipped into a hole in the middle, and a well-placed cross-court hit by senior outside Angela Hofmeyer was dug out of bounds. The Bruins called timeout, but this came to no avail when Veres' attempt for a match winner into the corner sailed long. And when Ritter tipped a Bruin overpass into a hole, a tiebreaker was in the offing. But Veres was having none of that, and she pounded a rally ending kill down the left. And when Seton obliged with an overpass of Veres’ serve, Morris buried it for the win. Stat leaders for Padua were: Veres, 11 kills, 7 digs; Cugliari, 26 assists; Goebel, 10 digs, Leary 8 digs and 12 serve receives; Morris and Kornowski 7 service points. ******************************************************************************* Magnificat topped Seton for third 25-19, 22-25, 25-15. The Saints led much of the way in game one, which was tied nine times to 14-all. Seton pulled ahead 18-14, led by two kills from Schwarz. At this point Kelsey Thomas scored for Magnificat and setter Rachel Gulasey served seven more points with Chakirelis contributing three kills. Following a service error, Chakirelis terminated a cross-court point, Castele served an ace and a Saints’ hitting error ended the game. Seton built an 18-12 lead in game two, and this time they held it, albeit barely. Magnificat closed to 19-17, and after three Seton points, the Blue Streaks crept within 22-21. But Averbeck drilled a kill from back court, and Hofmeyer scored on a cross-court shot, and after a serving error, Lietz drilled the game winner into the left corner. Magnificat controlled game three. Sophomore defender Brittany Flynn served an ace and Thomas nailed a kill to make it 24-13, and shortly after Chakirelis tipped for the winning point. Sylvania Northview downed Cleveland St. Joseph Academy 25-21, 25-27, 25-16 for fifth. Trailing 19-13 in game one, Northview rallied for seven straight behind junior outside Katie Bartlett who served two aces, spiked a kill from backcourt and saved a spike by St. Joseph senior outside Becky Leusch. Leusch finally ended the rally with a kill. Northview went back atop 21-20 on a block by 6’0” senior middle Olivia McIntee, and the Jaguars retied on a kill by junior outside Katie Sosoka. But Bartlett spiked another kill from back court, and the Ladykats rolled home when sophomore outside Dani Pierzchala and 6’0” sophomore middle Valerie Sohasky drilled spikes, and those two then teamed up for a game winning block. St. Joseph used a five point run to go ahead 15-13 in game two on three kills from junior Sarah Freeman, a block by senior middle Leighann Larsen and an ace from libero Samantha Schulte. The Jaguars gradually increased the margin and were up 24-20 after a termination by Leusch. But following a service error, Bartlett went on another rampage with two kills and two blocks. Sophomore Abbey Strick saved one volley with a diving dig, and she and Sohasky also kept St. Joseph honest at the net. But Freeman retied it with a shot down the left and, after a Ladykat hitting error, Sosoka read an attempted slide perfectly and was there for the game-winning block. Northview pulled away to win the tiebreaker. St. Joseph had given Seton a run for their money in round one with some great blocking, before bowing 24-26, 25-21, 27-25. Leusch paced the Jaguars in that one with 15 kills, setter Brianna Papotto had 30 assists, and Schulte a whopping 25 digs. Leusch also had six blocks, Therese Greco five, and four other players combined for nine more. Norwalk defeated Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin for seventh 25-18, 25-27, 25-12. Norwalk rallied for eight to break an 8-all third game tie, led by the serving of junior outside Beth Jackson. **************************************************************************** Tourney Notes Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin outside hitter Mary Walter has verbally committed to Lake Erie College. The 5'11" right side hitter recorded 315 kills in 2007, and she made the state record book three times last season with 25 or more kills in a match. Seton finished 3-7 and 1-9 in the GGCL in 2007 and 2006, respectively, but won the Showcase both years. In 2005 the Saints won the Division I state championship, but they were beaten by Magnificat in the Showcase final. **************************************************************************** Fall Showcase Classic (at Rocky River Magnificat)
First Round Magnificat def. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 25-23, 25-17 Parma Heights Holy Name def. Sylvania Northview 25-20, 25-22 Cincinnati Seton def. Cleveland St. Joseph Academy 24-26, 25-21, 27-25 Parma Padua Franciscan def. Norwalk 25-19, 25-8
Second Round Sylvania Northview def. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 26-24, 25-16 St. Joseph Academy def. Norwalk 25-18, 25-17 Holy Name def. Magnificat 25-27, 25-22, 25-21 Padua def. Seton 27-25, 26-24
Championship Padua def. Holy Name 25-18, 25-20 Third Place Magnificat def. Seton 25-19, 22-25, 25-15 Fifth Place Sylvania Northview def. St. Joseph Academy 25-21, 25-27, 25-16 Seventh Place Norwalk def. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 25-18, 25-27, 25-12
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